EFT at Aspire Therapy Manchester
EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique – often known as ‘tapping’ – is a stand-alone therapy, but also works effectively when used alongside hypnotherapy.
EFT can be used to reduce the intensity of negative feelings and to put unwanted thoughts into perspective. It combines talk with a simple procedure which involves you tapping on meridian points on your face and upper body.
EFT can be very helpful in uncovering the underlying cause of a problem, or simply getting to the nub of what is really concerning you. It can help you to control obsessive thinking and improve your mood.
Very importantly it is also a very simple to use self-help tool. After a short time working with an experienced practitioner you will be able to use the technique yourself to help you deal with negative feelings and emotions.
The Tapping Procedure
The EFT procedure requires you to tap with two fingers on acupuncture points on your upper body while focusing on the emotion associated with a particular problem. As you tap you describe that emotion in the form of a brief statement.
Tapping points are located on your hand, the crown of your head, your face and your upper body. By repeating a simple phrase while following the tapping sequence you are able, with the help of your therapist, to reduce uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and emotions.
EFT Puts You In Control
At Aspire Therapy Manchester we offer EFT as a stand-alone treatment and also sometimes introduce it to our hypnotherapy clients when we feel it could be a helpful addition to other techniques being used. It is entirely up to you, however, whether you wish to explore this as an option.
We often find our clients like the technique because it is unobtrusive and puts you in control. The underlying cause of a problem can be very gently brought to the surface of your consciousness in a way which is natural and non-threatening.
EFT Bypasses Habitual Thought Processes
If you are unfamiliar with this technique and it sound strange to you, just think of it as a way of by-passing your habitual thought processes. Talking on its own can get you into the circular thinking.
Although with EFT you are still verbalising the problem, your mind is being focused on it in a different way. You are also quite literally tapping into the resources of your body. This short-circuiting process can have rapid and surprising results, leading quite quickly to useful insights and beneficial changes of mood.
EFT allows you to approach a feeling or an emotion in a completely new way which does not rely exclusively on the power of rational thinking. Often we try to think our way out of a problem, but, emotions are not always susceptible to logical reasoning, hence their persistence.
EFT Explained
EFT is partly rooted in Chinese meridian theory of the physical body, which provides the basis for treatments such as acupuncture. From this point of view EFT can be seen as a freeing up energy pathways in the body which have become blocked.
A more modern explanation is that EFT is a whole body approach which opens up new neural connections in the brain, linking together its emotional and reasoning centres in ways which free you up from habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.
Hypnotherapy and EFT
Hypnotherapists can use EFT quite hypnotically with a client to bring together the conscious and unconscious resources of the mind in ways which can be creative and which can overcome limiting beliefs.
In the early stages of its development the technique was used in particular to deal with phobias, but it has since been used to treat a whole range of problems, including conditions as serious as post traumatic stress syndrome.
A very simple way in which we use EFT with our clients at Aspire Therapy Manchester is as part of our Weight-Loss Programme, where we teach clients how to use it to deal with cravings.
